{Book Review} Citizens of London by Lynne Olson

All I can say is I wish I had history books this interesting back when I was in college. This book as you may know cover the contributions of three important American figures in Britain during the early years of World War II before the U.S. had declared war. The people examined are John Gilbert Winant the American Ambassador to Britain after Joe Kennedy was recalled home; Edward R. Murrow the head of CBS news in Europe at the time, and Averell Harriman a businessman who developed the lend-lease program that would provide weapons, technology and materials to the British during the early years of WWII.

Olsen explores through stories and anecdotes the lives of these men during this trying time for the England and how they made significant contributions to the war effort in England and hwo they were responsible for forging those early bonds that tied England and USA together in the battle against the Axis.

Olsen is a journalist not a history professor, so she tend to mix in a bit of opinion and makes some claims without really justifying them, but that is easily overlooked for how fun and interesting of a read this book is. As a journalist the author crafts and tells great stories and you learn so much about how people you never knew existed had a great effect on WWII, and that includes many other people beyond the main subjects of Murrow, Winant and Harriman.

If you are a fan of World War II history and politics I think you will enjoy this book like I did. It is not a military book by any means, but rather a book about political inner workings, creating public opinion and the economics of waging a war. If any of those things interest you, then I think you will find this book a great read.

{Product Review} Crest 3D White Whitestrips Vivid

I know it has been a long time since I have written or reviewed anything.  This is mainly due to my contributions to Sermons On The Mound (My God/Baseball Blog with Ben Chamberlin).  But I am back with a new product review, which isn’t really that much of a great product at all.

Disappointing with no real results.

The Crest 3D White Whitestrips Vivid are the lowest level of Whitestrip product line that Crest offers.  They offer an “Advanced Vivid” and a “Professional Effects” version of this product too.  And I can understand why, because I had little luck and no real whitening results from this version of the strips.

The strips are a bit difficult to apply and they don’t really want to stay stuck to your teeth.  And I know if they don’t stick to my teeth they are not going to be whitened at all.  I used the ten strips sets of strips in the package once a day for ten days and after all the hassle of trying to get them to stay put in my mouth I saw no discernable difference in the whiteness of my teeth when I finished using the product.

If you are looking for an over the counter teeth whitening product I would skip this one.  Perhaps try one of Crest’s two other versions, which according to packaging offer better whitening results and “Advanced Seal Technology” to help them stick to the teeth.  I am really not sure why if they have the better working and faster acting technology why they would put out a poor product like this?  So my recommendation is to skip this product and try something else.